COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — There are a few perks of office for any American president. And for President Obama, his broad smile on Thursday suggested that this was one of them.

As the first sitting president to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum here, Mr. Obama had an extra bounce in his step as he quickly perused some of the artifacts, including a few from his favorite team, the Chicago White Sox.

“Oh, it fits!” Mr. Obama said, as he slipped a 2005 White Sox World Series ring onto his right pinkie.

Holding the baseball that President William Howard Taft threw out as the first pitch on opening day in 1910, Mr. Obama pretended to hurl the ball in the direction of the small gaggle of reporters gathered around him, getting some giggles and causing a few to flinch.

A few minutes later, Mr. Obama picked up a black mitt. “Joe DiMaggio’s glove,” he said. “How about that?”

Officially, the president stopped at the Hall of Fame to promote international tourism and to make the point that such museums help create jobs.

“Tourism translates into jobs, and it translates into economic growth,” Mr. Obama said in brief remarks after a quick tour. “They rent cars, they stay in hotels, they eat in restaurants and that means that, for upstate New York, the Baseball Hall of Fame is an economic engine.”

The president said the government would take steps to boost tourism, including making improvements at airports to attract international tourists.

“We want to bring in more visitors faster,” he said. “They can get to Cooperstown faster. They can see Babe Ruth’s bat faster.”

He also took the opportunity to chide Republicans in Congress for not doing more to create jobs — commentary he rarely misses a chance to make when he is on the road.

“They seem to be more interested in politics right now than performance,” Mr. Obama said. “And that’s a challenge.”

But for the president, the policy part of the visit seemed to be eclipsed a bit by the pure fun of getting a personal tour of a museum dedicated to a sport that he loves. (While a dedicated basketball fan, Mr. Obama has an affinity for baseball, especially, his hometown White Sox.)

Mr. Obama got to hold a bat used by Babe Ruth (he wisely did not swing it) as well as a baseball that was found in a desk in the wreckage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York. He also looked at shoes worn by Shoeless Joe Jackson, a White Sox player who was banned from baseball for his role in throwing the 1919 World Series (and who has a result has never been inducted into the Hall of Fame).

“It’s a little touchy subject for White Sox fans,” the president told his guide. Looking again at the shoes, Mr. Obama said, “He had small feet.”

The Hall of Fame opened 75 years ago and has since acquired almost 40,000 artifacts, including baseballs or other keepsakes signed by former presidents. According to the museum’s website, it acquires about 400 objects each year.

On Thursday, it acquired one more. Mr. Obama said that he had donated the White Sox jacket he wore when he threw out the first pitch at the All-Star Game in St. Louis in 2009.

Noting the grief he took for wearing what many described as “dad jeans” that night, the president added, “Michelle retired those jeans quite a while back.”